Epic quest to track an iPad
Most passengers would give up all hope of tracking down an iPad left on a plane after a couple of phone calls to the airline and airport lost property departments. Not Shelby Bonnie.After Bonnie left his iPad in the back of a seat pocket while en route from San Francisco to the Bahamas he embarked on a mission to track it down.Bonnie, an investment banker, started following his iPad through Find My iPhone, the Apple feature that can be used to locate lost or stolen devices, including iPhones, iPads and Mac laptops.He was surprised to see that it had travelled 1600km to Tennessee since he had left it on the plane.The saga, in which the iPad stopped off in a hotel, relaxed at a golf course and went out for dinner, played out on Facebook, where Bonnie posted regular updates.After a weekend-long break in Memphis, the iPad made its way back to Florida airport at the same time as Bonnie landed there for his transfer back to San Francisco."It flew back from Memphis and is within 30m of me," said Bonnie. "This is so very weird."Bonnie activated the alarm feature of Find My iPhone, which prompts the device to audibly signal its location. Unfortunately, the iPad was "playing hard to get" and he didn't manage to track it down in the airport.After missing it, Bonnie didn't have high hopes of seeing his iPad again."I'm definitely going to lose my iPad, but I'm going to have some fun," he told the New York Times.Bonnie posted that when the iPad landed at the thief's home he would deliver a bunch of balloons to the address. Needless to say, after about R650 worth of helium balloons and a "Thinking of You" gift card appeared at the door of the iPad's temporary owner, the device was on the move again.Shortly after it arrived back at the airport, Bonnie received a call from lost property. He was told: "An elderly woman came in a few minutes ago and said she had got the balloons and thought it would be a good idea to return the iPad to the airport."She said thanks for the balloons, but didn't want to call." ..
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